


Found In Translation

by Kikoia



Series: Motivated by Gay Intentions [1]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Character Development, Domestic Fluff, Fluff, M/M, Pre-Relationship, Really they're just really gay, Something something Bilingual, Something something communicating properly, The minor-est of angst, bit of a character study
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-24
Updated: 2018-08-24
Packaged: 2019-07-01 03:06:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,539
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15765327
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kikoia/pseuds/Kikoia
Summary: (AKA STEP ONE OF BEING A RESPONSIBLE ADULT SO MY GAY CRUSH GOES OUT WITH ME)(ALTERNATIVELY STEP ONE OF TRYING TO GET MY KID TO LIKE MY GAY CRUSH SO HE’LL WANT TO GO OUT WITH ME)—Sometimes you learn to communicate by meeting people halfway, even if they're not the words you started with.





	Found In Translation

The ladies walking by jump as Alister answers the FaceTime request, his phone immediately wailing at full blast on speaker. They give him dirty looks while another person, passing him with their son in their arms, glance at him in sympathy. 

Alister gives them a shrug. _And they don’t even know that there’s only one toddler on this call,_ he snorts quietly to himself, turning his attention to the two faces on his phone screen. “Koro, I just left the train station.”

“ _I don’t know what she wants!_ ” Adjusting his grip on the phone, Koro’s eyes are just as teary as Kikoia’s with twin looks of distress on their faces. Granted, the toddler is also too busy bawling to keep her eyes open, face absolutely red. “ _And now I can’t get her to stop crying!_ ”

Alister feels his heart break at the sight of his daughter in tears. “Kikoia,” he hushes into his phone, stepping off to the side of the street. Kikoia wobbles in and out of the camera as Koro shifts her on his arm. “Kikoia, what’s wrong, honey?”

“ _A-A—,_ ” Kikoia takes a heaving breath. “ _Appaaaa, jib-ewa!”_

Ah _._ Alister blinks. It’s a Korean-speaking day.

Being bilingual himself, Alister takes great pride in taking steps to teach Kikoia how to speak Korean, despite being her adopted father. The first month or so of living together was already tough enough trying to get the quiet toddler to even approach him, let alone talk to him.

The well-to-do mothers who pick up their children from Radish Nursery don’t think that Alister can hear their gossiping in the foyer as he rounds up the kiddos, but catches _His little one is just so quiet_ and _She’s such an anti-social child unlike my_ darling _Jackson_ and keeps his damn professional mouth shut, thank you very much.

Kikoia, much like himself, also keeps her mouth shut in the face of the adults, but not out of any bullshit they might think. If anything, Kikoia’s words are for a select, privileged few—who she communicates with is a sign of trust in her young heart. 

She directs Edan to the designated toy box for the day, mouth the lyrics of Megumi’s newest favorite pop singer along with her, hears and repeats back the next line in the bedtime story when Alister comes to tuck her in for the night. Alister nearly cried over catching her showing Edan how to speak Korean, the two of them swapping short phrases back and forth while following each other around.

Of course, it can also turn into a double-edged sword. On days where Kikoia is more closed off (and on those days Alister’s chest aches at the reappearance a barely-three, newly adopted Kikoia, alone and scared of her new family), she switches to Korean whether those around her understand her or not. This usually isn’t a problem when they’re home together.

However, Alister is not home at the moment.

He explains most of this to Koro, who is doing his damn best to accomplish both keeping the camera steady and comfort a quieted, but still hiccup-crying Kikoia. “She hasn’t had a day like this in a while, I think she’s just scared of—”

Alister pauses. How do you tell your crush that your beloved child is probably scared of the large cat man now babysitting her for the afternoon? Alister groans in a silent, gay panic. He’s supposed to be a good parent, not trying to make a good impression on his—

“ _Appaaa…_ ” His attention immediately snaps back to Kikoia. Her hands come up to rub at her blotchy face.

“Sweetie, don’t cry, ok? That’s a good girl.” Alister bites his lip, watching his daughter as he mentally calculates when the next train would come into the station. If he hurried back, he could be home before too long and Koro would never offer to babysit Kikoia again. Or step foot near the nursery. Or Alister. 

At least he could stop by and grab Kikoia’s favorite ice cream on the way back to the station, along with one for himself for ruining his relationship with Koro before it even started.

In his gay-parent mode, Alister misses Koro’s quick glance between the toddler and the phone screen, eyes suddenly flashing.

“ _Appa_ can come home—”

“ _We’ll be okay, right Kik_?”Koro bounces a startled Kikoia on his arm, cutting off her crying and Alister’s train of thought. He flashes her a wide grin. “ _Your dad will be home soon! We can play and watch a movie together! Right? Yay!_ ”

Kikoia looks just as bamboozled as Alister’s heart feels, his heartbeat stuttering at the image of Koro cooing at his daughter. “A-are you sure? I can be home in a minute.”

Koro tilts his head on his phone, ears cutely flicking at the movement. God, Alister needed to focus! “ _You’re already downtown, aren’t you? You should finish your errands._ ” He hikes Kikoia up back into view. “ _We’ll hold down the fort for ya! Radish Nursery is safe in our hands!_ ”

The corner of Alister’s mouth twitches upwards before he can stop himself. “You hear that, Kikoia?” he calls to her, watching her eyes focus at the sound of his voice. “You can be all big and strong for me until I get back? I won’t be long, okay?”

Another sniffle, but no more sobbing follows as Kikoia gives the camera a little nod. “ _Eung, appa._ ” Good, some progress.

Alister takes a deep breath, running a hand through his hair. Right, they could do this. He looks at Koro. “Call me if anything else comes up,” he stresses, “and I’ll come right home.”

It’s Alister’s turn to be given a Koro-watt grin, although while it could be his imagination, but this one is a tinge softer-looking and just as warm. Fuck. “ _We’ll be waiting for you when you get back!_ ” Double fuck. It’s too early for Alister to be more than okay with that image for possibly the rest of his gay life.

“Right, um. Okay. I’ll see you guys soon!” Alister manages to reply, giving a quick wave to the camera. Kikoia’s tiny hand flapping and both her and Koro’s twin _bye-bye_ s pause as he hangs up. 

Right, Alister repeats to himself, pocketing his phone. He can do this. Koro can do this. He sets off for the specialty store, ignoring if his pace is a tad bit faster than before the phone call.

They’ll be fine.

***

There is a good chance that Koro can’t do this and they won’t be fine.

Whether “they” refers to Koro and his dying chances of getting his gay crush to be impressed with him enough to go on a date with him, or himself and the once-again-whimpering child still pressing her face into his shoulder, Koro isn’t sure. Both are equally distressing.

Keep in mind, it’s not that Koro doesn’t _like_ children. Firefighter days at the local elementary schools are a hit, even though his squad keeps him mostly on look-at-these-cool-strong-tricks duties, but still. The kids love it!

And really, it’s not that Koro is a typical muscle-head idiot, despite what Highwind likes to lob at him from time to time back at the station. But his brute-force efficiency that gets him through burning doors (not that there were many of those in this sleepy town; there were not many fires before he started answering Kikoia-Fire calls) also gets him through life pretty well. For the most part, he manages to lumber his way through his relationships with his workplace and friends just fine.

Then Alister and his cute, gentle smile—and distractingly fantastic ass framed by his work apron—opened his daycare and ruined all of Koro’s daydreams.

Because his personality? Great. Laugh? Adorable. The wink he directs at Koro while humoring the kids at daycare? Enough to make Koro walk into the lamppost in front of the window as he makes his very specific gay-intentioned route to work past _Radish Nursery_.

Yet, the second that Koro channeled his enthusiasm into yelling out a greeting to Alister, the man burst into (metaphorical) flames and ran. Koro shrugs and reaches and tries again, and Alister blushes and flinches and skitters away, if there isn’t a child present that holds the caretaker in place long enough for a conversation. It’s a miracle that the two of them got through the mundane chatter phase.

And all of that weather talk meant that Alister doesn’t blush as startlingly intense as he turns sort-of pink nowadays. It’s so much less damaging on Koro’s heart, thank god. They might be getting _somewhere_. 

But there still seems like there’s an unspoken wall that keeps Koro from telling Alister that he really, really likes him and wants to go on very gay and enamored dates with him. Or something.

So when Alister mentioned needing an emergency babysitter that weekend, Koro ran into that opportunity headfirst like he usually does. Except now all of that progress is in jeopardy because _he can’t understand a word of what Kikoia is saying_.

“ _Appa?_ ” 

Kikoia stands at the hallway near the foyer, having clambered down from his arms after Alister hung up. She’s turned away from him, but Koro doesn’t need to see her face to know that it’s making the same sad expression she’s been making for the last ten minutes. Her voice is plaintive as she continues to mumble to herself.

_Appa_ , Koro reasons from the call earlier, can only mean Alister. To be fair, he only downloaded a Korean-vocabulary app only two weeks ago. Isn’t the word for father _abeoji_? “You miss your dad, kiddo?”

Kikoia’s head snaps to Koro as he pads over to her, her eyes considering as he crouches down next to her. “Yeah, me too,” he jokes, glancing at her from the corner of his eye. She doesn’t move. “Err. Um, _abeoji… geugao…goissda?_ ”

He blinks as Kikoia whirls on him, suddenly speaking rapid-fire Korean. Crap, he doesn’t even know if he said the right thing! “H-hold on, hold on! Oh no no no,” Koro panics as Kikoia’s eyes start to water again. He spots the plushie she dropped on the floor and grabs it, holding out to her. “Here, look!”

To his relief, she takes it and clutches it to her chest, the tears held back. Koro sighs as he stands up, Kikoia staring up at him with a confused expression. Okay, trying to speak beginner’s-lesson-1 Korean is not going to work. If anything, it will just make things worse and Alister will come home to an emotionally traumatized kid and a hopeless cat man that couldn’t do anything about it.

Maybe Koro is in over his head here. In his quest to woo Alister, it’s just now hit him exactly how far all of that first-through-the-door business has gotten him. The image of Alister working at the daycare has always been sugar-sweet adorable, but this? He feels like he walked into a conversation half-finished with a limited vocabulary and a whole chance that he’s gonna fuck it up.

Koro is no professional child-wrangler, or suave multilingual master, or even close to someone like kind, warmhearted Alister would probably be interested in. Maybe Highwind isn’t exactly wrong about Koro being a muscle-head.

A noise clatters across the room, making Koro recoil instinctively and crash against the wall—face-first. He curses vehemently under his breath as he turns, finding Kikoia somehow not next to him anymore and is instead over by the TV.

Her eyebrows are furrowed together as she looks for something near the TV stand. Koro watches as he walks over to her, seeing her look at him briefly before returning to her task. “ _Manwha…naneun manhwaleulbogo sip-eo._ ”

“Do you wanna watch something?” Koro asks, crouching down next to her again. Kikoia frowns, her hands wringing together nervously as she looks like she’s…gesturing to the TV? 

Koro wracks his brain. What was that one show that was on the last time he came over?

“Cartoon?” Koro finds himself also pointing to the TV. To his surprise, Kikoia stops and stares at him. “Uh, Spongebob? Bunny show?” He does a little hopping motion, tail flicking behind him.

Kikoia watches and says nothing, and swings her arm again, but this time she looks like she’s almost punching something. Wait. 

“Uh, superhero?” Koro guesses, Kikoia now looking at him intently. “Batman. No, man-something…” He poses.

Kikoia strikes another pose.

Koro mimics her, wobbling on one leg.

A shriek makes them both freeze, Koro tensing as Kikoia babbles something in Korean. He catches one word. “…Anpanman? Is it Anpanman?"

Kikoia jumps up and down, repeating it. Koro vaguely remembers a cookie-head-shaped superhero. “Okay, right. Anpanman it is,” he says to himself, grabbing the remote.

Clicking through the menu, Koro settles himself on the floor, his tail curled around his leg as he leans against the couch. Kikoia doesn’t move for a second, but eventually Koro sees her move to scramble onto the armchair and nestle into the corner.

The cheery cartoon theme song is the only thing heard from then on. She’s not scared of him, Koro thinks to himself after a minute goes by without either of them saying anything. But she’s scared of something, something enough to make her avoid English for whatever comfort she’s finding in Korean at the moment. 

The realization gives him a slight relief for the first time since Alister left. This version of Kikoia in front of him is a Scared Kikoia, yes, but Koro has also seen Well-Mannered Kikoia listening to her dad despite all the kids clamoring for his attention, and Very Smart Kikoia mischievously maneuvering her way between the white-haired kid and sleepy kid she plays with sometimes. 

They’re all the same Kikoia nonetheless, and Kikoia’s not some alien. She’s a good kid.

Which means that his vocabulary is not as limited as it may seem. Words or gestures or interpretative dances of cartoons aside, he can get _somewhere_ with this. Whatever Koro is missing from the finer points of how-to-talk-to-people, he still knows _good_ people. Good intentions. It’s what drew him to someone like Alister in the first place.

After weeks of rushing forward through doors only to turn and find people not following—or even trying to drag him back—Koro has to start meeting them halfway. If Kikoia doesn’t want to step into the English language, Koro will mime his way to where she stands. 

And if Alister even wants to speak to him again after all of this—and Koro can feel his ears flatten reflexively at this bittersweet thought—then Koro will do his best to do the same for him. Interpretative dance or otherwise.

It’s a convoluted method of communication compared to the button-mashing Koro’s used to doing, for sure. But after watching their progress slowly crawl to a stop at that damn _wall_ between them, despite all of these weather conversations and pleasantries and hesitance,

(when really Koro wants to have sappy gay moments and hand-holding and being 100% sure that he’s the one making Alister blush like that because he _likes_ him and Alister _knows_ it) 

Koro can only hope this is the way forward. He’ll take anything that works.

***

 

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Kikoia is my pride and joy OC; Alister belongs to Cham, while Koromaru belongs to Tigurz.
> 
> In a normal AU, Kikoia is a grown 20-something-year-old trained combatant, and Alister and Koro are her teammates in an intergalactic task force. This is just really self-indulgent and gay, aka my two biggest moods.
> 
> Radish Nursery was named after Alister asked Kikoia for her opinion. Her favorite vegetable is pickled radishes, also known as đồ chua (Vietnamese food culture) and danmuji (Korean food culture). Both cultures reference myself and Cham respectively.


End file.
